A “desire to be comfy” day turns into hilarious awkwardness and cuddles.
FEB 20 | Apartment 112 | PG-13?
“No, no, no, no, no,” Scott said as he chased an ant–an ant!--down the hallway. It was full on Ant Theft Auto IV because everything had gone wrong while he’d been experimenting on the living room floor with a Toyota Corolla that he had shrunk down using Pym particles. Scott had been experimenting with particular sizes and then one of the ants had climbed inside out of curiosity. Scott’s other experiment had been about size and usability; the car had been on. And because Scott’s luck was not great, the ant had somehow managed to accidentally get stuck up against the well of the driver’s seat.
He had opened the front door because Scott hadn’t wanted the car to crash against it and he hadn’t tested the durability. Scott was positive that the ant inside had not put their seatbelt on. He was not so positive about the airbag situation.
With a desperate leap as he saw the car swerve, Scott managed to get his hand in front of the Corolla as he landed, sprawled, two apartments down. It knocked the wind out of him and he had to lay there, wheezing, watching as the ant crawled out without a care and disappeared under the door he was in front of. “ANTony Hopkins! No!” Scott scrambled and tried to get his fingers under the door, to no avail, but still turned his head to look as though the crack would be big enough to find his little friend. “ANTony~” he called quietly, his voice sugar-sweet. “Daddy just wants to make sure you’re okay~”
Something shifted beneath the door, which was thrown open with a bit of a flourish. On the other side, Loki was looking down, brow cocked in a look of infinite bemusement, arms crossed just under her chest, the smile a red curve nearly hidden in the shade of her mane of wild curls. "Well, Daddy, I seem to be doing all right. I could ask you what you're doing on the floor, Mr Lang, but perhaps some mysteries are better left to the imagination." Leaning down, she coaxed the ant that was crawling over her bare feet into her hand, which she offered to him. "Mr Hopkins, I presume?"
"Jesus-!" Scott gasped as the door was flung open. But then Daddy was being thrown out and color flooded his face. Before he could try to explain, the woman was going on and--she didn't look terribly familiar but she knew his name? Scott managed to push himself into a kneeling position just as she offered ANTony Hopkins back to his safe keeping.
The ant didn't seem any worse for wear and Scott grinned with relief as the insect came back to his hand. "Oh, good, he's fine," he said, looking up at Loki. "A little... Ant Theft Auto, you know?"
Mortals look so good on their knees, Loki thought, but absolutely didn't say aloud as she took in the incidental picture Scott Lang had presented of himself.
Even in his ridiculous shark pajama pants and respectable, if obviously worn Queen T-shirt, the appeal was most definitely there. Her fingers twitched toward his chin before dropping a bit to offer her hand. "I see." She didn't. "Stay for a coffee? I can't seem to convince myself to even get dressed for the day, let alone go out and do anything I had planned."
Scott scooped up the tiny car and realized it was still running. "Coffee actually sounds good," he said absently as he climbed to his feet. "I couldn't be bothered with getting dressed, either. But when this little sucker took off, I didn't have a choice in leaving. Hey, uh, you don't have a little screwdriver do you? A paperclip?"
He paused, considered, and then bent to send the ant on his way. "Go back to the apartment," Scott said but looked up at Loki again. He frowned. "Do I know you?"
She considered the twee car with a slight tilt to her head and watched as he sent the wee creature back to wherever his little friends scurried off to—or marched, in this case. "I have a spell that could stop the engine, but it might be as subtle as one of my brother's lightning bolts. If you want to continue with… whatever it was you were doing with it, I wouldn't suggest it. But let me see what I can find while I fetch us a couple of cups of coffee."
Speaking of Thor, she wasn't exactly sure where Thor and Love were. Possibly visiting Julia and her little one? Whatever way, Loki tossed her hand lightly toward the couch and moved toward the kitchen. "Really, Mr Lang, you've forgotten our New Year's Eve kiss so soon? I'm hurt."
It took Scott way too long to parse that hint and his face became of a whole journey of thoughts and emotions. But he had also automatically followed Loki inside, shutting the door behind himself. He was standing in the living room when the understanding settled in. "Loki?" he asked, baffled. Because there had only been one kiss on New Year's Eve--not counting the annoying, loud kiss he'd planted on his daughter's cheek. "Wha--uh? Huh. Okay."
Although she knew Love hadn't been in the picture all that long, Loki suspected that she had a hand in the various and sundry novelty mugs currently stored in the cabinets. She was smiling, both at them and at the moment when Scott finally cottoned on when she pulled two down and got the coffee going. She leaned a hip against the counter and surveyed him with a slightly raised brow. It was a bit of a surprise, she knew, simply appearing like this, but she wasn't really accustomed to giving anyone any kind of warning about it. And she didn't intend to start. "Loki, indeed, Scott. Do you need a moment, or are you quite recovered?"
He was a progressive kind of man. He was hip with the kids and learning a lot more about pronouns, gender expression, and sexuality in general. When Scott was growing up, it was a lot more narrow.
So, all he could think to ask? "What are your pronouns? Do they change depending on your appearance?" Scott asked, earnest and hoping that he'd asked in a proper way.
Another small, but clearly amused smile. "You may call me 'my Lady' when I appear like this. Otherwise it's 'my Lord' or 'my Supreme Benevolence'." She had yet to rock up to Jen's door like this, not out of any sense of reluctance, but merely because it hadn't come up yet. Standing there, talking to Scott in his adorable pajamas, made her think that she should. Not that she was seeking any kind of…anything really, but it seemed rather important to Loki to share this side of her. "Be a love and grab the tin of biscuits while I carry the coffee through?"
Scott wasn't that gullible. He gave her a look while still clearly patiently amused. "I'm not calling you by titles," he scoffed. "Only Cap gets Sir." But he did move forward to grab the gestured-to tin because he was helpful like that. Just because he was standing in the same room as a homicidal god-or-whatever didn't mean he lost his manners.
But My Lady was just a step too far. Without too much thought put behind it, Scott ended up on the couch with the tin in his lap and wow was it comfortable. He didn't really want to get up. It felt like he'd found his natural place in the world. If only there were a blanket or a warm body to share the space with. "So, uh, do you tend to do this often? Or even kiss strangers on New Year's Eve? Just, you know, for curiosity purposes."
"A god can always dream." Loki chuckled, loving the way it sounded like dark whiskey, but not actually minding in the slightest when he declined. Worth a shot. She retrieved the fresh brewed elixir the moment it was ready and followed him out, placing the mugs on the table in front of the couch.
This left her free to settle right into the space at his side, which she did without so much as a by-your-leave. Were it not for the fact that she was genuinely enjoying making him squirm a bit, she might have wondered a bit more about how very compulsory this feeling was, this urge to be comfortable. With a flick of her wrist, a warm flannel blanket—in green, naturally—appeared and fell over them both. Loki insinuated her arm with his and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Just as the mood strikes. For both things, really. Just, you know, for curiosity purposes. Would you have had a preference that evening? Which version would you have rather sealed your midnight with?"
He didn't necessarily mind the close proximity because something felt cozy about it--and then there was a warm, flannel blanket and Scott made a noise of appreciation. And then there was cuddling and he wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself.
"Oh--uh?" Scott started, at the question. His ears burned with embarrassment at the question. So forward. "I am mostly sure I'm straight. Like, I can appreciate someone like Cap. Right? But I wouldn't want to sleep with him. No, wait. I take that back, he might be the one person I'd have my bisexual college experience with. No offense." Why did he just say that? Scott was being overly honest and he didn't owe Loki any of that. He coughed, uncomfortable, and made a reach for what he presumed was his mug of coffee but stopped short because it would have meant dislodging Loki. Apparently Loki fell into the same rule as sleeping cats: you don't disturb them if they're on you. "But I also don't know you," Scott pointed out. "So either way, it was just surprising. The kiss was fine--I mean more than fine, you're good, but the surprise itself." Why was he tripping so hard over his words? This was getting ridiculous. "Coffee?"
For a second—just a second—Loki considered taking on the visage of the Patriotic Man with the Plan. She could have, too, but that tug of comfort was too hard to pull herself away from. With a small gesture, the two mugs were floating over and hovering for them to take. Loki plucked it from the air and took a sip as she contemplated his answer. "If I was Captain Rogers, I'd rather flattered. You should absolutely tell that to him to his face. Ideally while I'm around. I would cherish the memory forever." She gave him a wicked grin before getting the tin open and snagging a biscuit. "Would you like to get to know me better, Scott Lang?"
Scott made another pleased noise and took the mug from the air, cupping his hands around it and enjoying the comforting heat. He started at Loki going for the tin that had been on his lap but his eyes got huge as he whipped his head to stare at her. "I can't tell him that!" Scott protested. Would you like to get to know me better?
He blinked a couple times, considered the question even though he figured it was a tease. "Who all did you kiss on New Year's Eve?" Scott asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
She did him the service of not laughing at him to his face, and also not pointing out his non-answer. Well, two could play at that. Loki smiled and slowly selected yet another biscuit from the handily placed tin. "No one who didn't ultimately enjoy themselves." Her fingers found the crook of his elbow and began to make small circles in the soft skin there. All his affability and fumbling was charming, and she didn't think it was an act. "Would you have preferred it if I'd looked like this instead?"
"You're very pretty," Scott said, before he could stop himself. "But there are still stories. The whole, you know, New York thing. I'm a little teensy-weensy bit opposed to homicidal tendencies in a partner and all that." A beat. "Not that you're--because we're not--like that." He cleared his throat and took up his own biscuit (cookie?) from the tin if only to have something in his mouth to shut himself up.
Experimentally, he dunked the biscuit into his coffee and realized two things: one, it was a bad idea and two, he didn't like his coffee black. Scott wrinkled his nose but didn't have anywhere to put the remains of the biscuit so he just shoved it into his mouth and brushed his fingers off on his shirt. Scott Lang was definitely not high-born.
"Reformed homicidal tendencies. And many of those stories have been grossly exaggerated and sensationalized. I will admit, the bit about New York was my fault"—and hadn't actually been that long ago, from Loki's perspective, although she'd been through quite a lot since then—"but in my meager defense, the Mad Titan was quite… persuasive."
A delicate way of saying Loki had been tortured. She'd been broken down and thrust into that SHIELD hangar, barely able to stand even while implementing Thanos's plans. And she knew how it all ended. Poetically. Neck snapped by the madman himself while Thor watched. It was little wonder why her brother hovered so sometimes. She set all of this aside and made a motion toward the kitchen.
A few seconds later a tray came out with accoutrement for the coffee. She hadn't been so wrapped up in her reminiscences not to see the small note of displeasure on his face that he'd tried to hide. "But no, we're not like that. I can think of a great many people who might come for my head if I despoiled and corrupted a soul such as yours, my dear Scott."
At the mention of Thanos, Scott went still. He was too busy remembering the complete panic and horror as he'd run to one of the memorials, searching for Cassie's name among the list of the disappeared persons. He had found his own instead because why would anyone have known any different? He had been trapped in the Quantum Realm while the rest of his team had been taken by Thanos' snap. So he didn't pick up on the way Loki said persuasive or he might have questioned it.
The arrival of the coffee tray brought him back into the here-and-now, where Cassie was perfectly fine and was safe and had gone through five years of thinking her father was actually gone forever. That wasn't Loki's fault. Scott considered the offerings in front of him and doctored his coffee accordingly. "I'm not exactly squeaky clean," Scott said, quietly. "I do the wrong thing for the right reason and it's my family that pays that price. Prison, the Raft, I mean I guess house-arrest wasn't terrible since I could at least see Cassie." He sipped at his coffee--much better. "You do things for personal gain. I did things to try and help a greater good." Now, Scott looked at her. "What makes you happy, Loki?"
That hurt. Probably because it was true. Mostly because it was true. If anyone had asked her for her motivations just a few days prior to being brought to this version of San Francisco, she would have vehemently declared that she was doing everything to keep her people—the Asgardians—safe and their loftly place secured within the cosmos. But it was her own place she'd always put first, her own ambitions. Shame wasn't an emotion she was unfamiliar with, but it was one she despised.
"Even when you're being bad, you're good," she muttered, finding the pulse point in the hollow of his elbow and digging in with her nails just a little. More pressure than actual hurt. At least that's what her intention was. "Happy? Me? In all candor, I couldn't really say. I might have been able to before I was whisked away by the TVA, but nothing screams existential crisis better than finding out you're nothing but a mistake. An aberration of time, destined to be pruned and forgotten."
Scott managed to hide his wince at the pressure her nails were giving his poor arm. He dislodged that arm and wrapped it comfortingly around Loki's shoulders without too much thought. He had a sliding scale of worst enemy and Loki wasn't near the top. "None of us are mistakes. Well, unless you count Thanos. Rhodes had the right idea, even if we couldn't do it because time-travel rules," Scott said without giving much else by way of detail. "I don't know who the TVA is but who put them in charge, exactly? Because it sounds to me like they're the issue in that little scenario."
He sighed and rested his mug of coffee on his knee. "The most important thing in the world to me is my daughter. Cassie needs to have the chance to grow up and do whatever she wants with her life. That's why I fight. For her future." The heat quickly seeped through his thin pajama pants and he hissed, lifting the mug again before shifting to put it on the table in front of them--along with the biscuit tin. "I guess you just need to figure out what you'd fight for now. Maybe that's where you find your happy?"
Her lips quirked as she eased a little closer into his side. "Even if you think you could have managed whatever you and Colonel Rhodes had planned, if it wasn't on the Sacred Timeline, it never would have worked anyway. The Time Variance Authority would have seen to that. And apparently, you're odd little trip across the timeline is exactly what caused me to be here today, which is a paradox in and of itself. Had you not mucked about with time, the Tesseract would have never fallen into my hands, I never would have used it to get away, and then I wouldn't have been picked up by Hunters. And yet they allowed your time manipulations to continue unimpeded."
A conundrum best to be figured out another day, and something that frustrated her to no end when Thor told her what happened after Thanos killed the Sacred Timeline Loki. She pulled herself back from her thoughts, wondered what it might be like to be a parent, but couldn't actually picture it. The closest she could really get at this point was her relationship with Thor and Love. And that was fine. Good, even.
Her arm looped around his back when he leaned back from freeing his hands and his lap, and she fit her hand to his waist. Despite their heavy topics of conversation and Scott's near constant desire to bring up Loki's past atrocities, it didn't dampen that near overwhelming desire to be comfortable. "I'd fight for choice and my own family, if it came down to it. But is fighting for something always going to equate something that makes you happy? I love my brother, but I couldn't say he makes me happy all the time."
Scott didn't really have an answer for that and the more he sat there, the less he actually cared. He had so many questions, especially about this sacred timeline nonsense. "No, not happy all the time. Just happy for enough of the time." He shook his head, the thread of thought having already drifted off out of reach. "I don't suppose you have Netflix or something? Just like. Netflix and chill or something." He used his free hand to tug the green blanket up higher onto both their laps since he'd dislodged it a little with his putting his mug down.
"And chill? On my brother's—Thor, God of Thunder, ruler of Asgard—on his couch? What kind of girl do you take me for?" Her protests were hollow, since she'd already found the hem of his shirt and worked her fingers under it, the tips of them just barely grazing his skin. Not to mention she summoned the remote and set it practically in his hands. "Find something for us. Chances are, I've both not seen it and never heard of it. But be gentle? For me?"
"What? Yeah, and chill--oh God," Scott said, confusion morphing into embarrassment as he remembered the whole Netflix and Chill thing. "No like actual chill, as the kids say. Not. You know. Chill." His face felt warm again and he gratefully lifted the remote to play with it. Scott could figure out a remote. Electronics he was good with.
Loki's fingers were cool for a moment against his skin and he sucked in a breath but chanted some sort of ignore it mantra in his head. "A comedy is good. Nice and cozy," Scott said, staring ahead like the television was the most interesting thing in the room. "Nice and, uh, gentle." He scrolled too fast through the menu, cursed softly under his breath, and promptly fumbled the remote before looking at where Loki was so casually pressed against him. "You are very distracting."
Loki chuckled, pleased by his flustered reaction. It wasn't all a game. He was an attractive man, warm, charming, affable. She thought so in either of her binary forms. "Am I?" She shifted her attention up to him, meeting his gaze with a smile gone soft around the edges. "I could change, if you prefer?"
"Why don't you change into whatever you're most comfortable in," Scott suggested. "Because at this point, getting up off this couch seems like the worst idea so I'm running with that." Whatever that meant for Loki would be fine, Scott thought. But she was distracting in the present state with her hand inching just under his favorite Queen shirt. "Have you ever tried cotton pajama pants? Highly recommended, shark print or otherwise."
She'd meant her physical appearance, but she wasn't quite sure if his response was in earnest or if he was playing a deeper game. He didn't strike her as a man completely without guile. One had to be to have undertaken a fairly successful career as a thief. Well, successful until he was caught, of course. And wasn't that the rub of the lives lived counter to everyone's expectations? All the same, her clothes changed with a ripple of shimmering green light, leaving her in pajama pants similar to his own—green with golden yellow vines swirling up the legs—and a tank top with a cartoon green snake. Her hair was now piled high in a messy twist. Loki pulled the blanket aside so he could see. "You might have something of a point about these pants."
"See? Super comfy," Scott said, smiling and pleased. He shifted a little against the couch to get more comfortable with a person cuddled up against him and he resumed scrolling through the viewing choices before settling on something that didn't take too much thought. "The clothes changing thing has to be really handy. Less laundry. Way more lazy, too," he added, grinning. "Lazy sounds amazing today."
"It's all illusions," she confessed, "and some minor shapeshifting. If I was truly lazy, I'd be blue and squishing you flat." Loki tapped her chest. "Frost Giant, don't you know." Her other hand had flattened at this point, palm curving against his side. The more she was still, the less she felt like moving. "It does. Sound amazing. Maybe…"
Too much so? It's like the thought skittered out of her mind as soon as it occurred to her.
"Maybe we shut up and watch the movie?" Scott suggested, still grinning. He would never tell a woman to shut up but including himself? That was fair game. The only thing that would make this whole situation better would be a bowl of popcorn but that would require effort. "I'm glad you're not blue and squishing me. That's probably my preference. No offense meant. I just like being not-squished."
Even the pinch she gave his side was lackluster. "I've killed beings for lesser insults." Loki allowed the sentence to hang for a moment, tone darker than it had been, but then she shrugged the shoulder that wasn't snug up against him. "Or had them thrown in the dungeon. Either way, you're quite lucky you're so very attractive. So I'll not be squishing you today. Or anytime soon, probably."
"So very attractive?" Scott echoed with an awkward, almost-shy laugh. "Huh." He wasn't used to the compliments. "Well, I appreciate that. I do enjoy being not-squished."
He settled in to watch the movie, letting the warm feeling of coziness and being lazy just wrap around him until his head was eventually tipped back and Scott had fallen asleep, playing pillow to a cozy-looking Loki while he had an arm still around her. "I never get to be little spoon," he said drowsily as he woke up enough to shift a little so none of his extremities fell asleep and went numb on him.
For Loki's part, she'd stayed awake and been very kind by letting Scott be while the movie went on. He looked peaceful, and his light snores were rather sweet in their own way. It felt wrong on some level to disrupt that, right until he did it to himself. She chuckled and moved away from him, but only so she could take him by the shoulder and push him lightly, aiming to get him on his side at the edge of the couch. "All you had to do was ask, dear man. Budge over a bit."
Scott woke up a little more, because moving required that, but he made a contented noise as Loki got him positioned. The blanket got tugged back up into place and he squirmed a little to make sure he was comfortable. Pleased, he tipped his head to the side a little. "Can you still see?" Because his wanting to be the little spoon shouldn't supersede Loki's ability to watch the movie.
With her head propped up in her hand and arm in a loose hold around his stomach, Loki was set for the moment and leaned her face down to tell him as such. In a whisper. Right in his ear. "Quite well, thank you. You're very warm. And very distracting. Was all that wiggling about quite necessary, my dear?"
"Yes," Scott said simply, smiling as he closed his eyes again. Being the little spoon was the best. His smile turned more wicked, for just a moment, and he wriggled once more just because he could. "Now it's good. I'm done," he said with just a touch too-much innocence to his tone. Hey, if she was going to tease him then turnabout was fair play. "You're warm, too. Blanket is good. Best lazy day."
Oh, she didn't buy that act for a single solitary second, but she let hm have his fun. Odin knew, she'd had her own at his expense. And if this little display was any indication, no harm had come from it. Loki huffed a laugh against his cheek and let her nose gently graze the shell of his ear. A tiny twist of unease thrilled up her spine, but it was gone before she could latch onto it. And why would she? Where she was and what they were doing was perfect. "Incorrigible," was all she said.
At that, Scott laughed though he didn't open his eyes. The nosing at his ear was doing things to him but he couldn't bring himself to care too much. "It didn't seem fair to let you be the only one to get away with the teasing," Scott said with a grin. "You really couldn't care a lick about the movie, could you. Just come be big spoon and enjoy the movie. Or nap with me. Either one."
Once again, her hand mysteriously found its way under his shirt, whereupon she began to lightly pet at his stomach. Perfectly normal cuddle time behavior between two loose acquaintances. As was the way she nipped at the hinge of his jaw before giving up on the movie altogether. He was quite right, in that her time was far better served napping than it was trying to keep her attention on a paper thin plot. It was her turn to wiggle her way into a more comfortable position, melded against his back from foot to shoulder. "For the record, this film is absurd, and you should highly question your taste in entertainment. Regardless, you make an excellent pillow."
"You should know," Scott said, sounding like he was confiding in her, "that I love bad movies. They're even better when it's time for a nap because you don't care that you're missing it."
His need to be comfortable and just lazy had apparently been satisfied and Scott gave a sigh of contentment. This felt nice. Warm, cozy, and he had missed just cuddling with someone. Without having realized it, Scott's hand moved to cover Loki's hand though it wasn't exactly a stopping gesture. He was just enjoying the physical contact. Scott probably should have mustered the will to care about the who, the where, and why but all of that just simply fell away and was drowned out by the movie playing on the television. "Thank you for not squishing my ant," Scott mumbled sleepily.
The curve of Loki's smile wasn't nearly as wicked as it should have been. Could have been. No, if anyone could have seen it just then, they might have even called it fond. Ridiculous. "You're very welcome, Scott."